Mdoloris ANI Guardian bracelet image

Mdoloris, specialist in medical pain monitoring technologies, has unveiled a new connected bracelet to track the wellbeing and pain of a range of non-verbal or cognitively impaired people.

The assistive device, ANI Guardian, miniaturises a patented technology that was, until now, only available in hospitals.

Reliable, continuous, and non-invasive, the bracelet remotely shares data to caregivers, family and medical specialists in real time. Ideal for both indoor and outdoor use, the wireless bracelet features 24-hour continuous monitoring for a on a one-hour charge. It does not require any installation and eases the lives of patients under care.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 55 million people worldwide have a form of dementia.

These patients are often unable to self-report their level of pain and comfort, which places them at increased risk for under-diagnosed and under-treated pain. This also concerns people on the autistic spectrum, in palliative care, or who have multiple disabilities.

Mdoloris says that ANI Guardian will “revolutionise” the lives of tens of millions of people in hospital or at home. It can replace current methods like comfort scales with an objective, easy to use, wearable device.

Building on prior Mdoloris pain monitoring products that have been successfully used in hospitals – such as La Paz in Madrid, Spain, for a study on video games and cancer – it uses signals from the nervous system to accurately track and display the patient’s pain and comfort levels at all times, removing the subjectivity of pain measurement for non-verbal patients.

Fabien Pagniez, CEO and Founder of Mdoloris, said: “With our connected bracelet, we wanted to democratise and simplify a technology that was up until now only used in hospitals.

“This wireless, wearable sensor is worn by the patient like a bracelet while using our unique indicator, the parasympathetic tone. We wish to address people suffering from strong cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s, on the autism spectrum or people at the end of life. It regards all those who have lost the ability to communicate to ensure that they are comfortable and maintain their dignity.”

Attached to a washable and reusable textile solution, the device is easy to set up, with one button to turn it on and off.

The data from the bracelet is sent via Bluetooth to a connected smartphone application, allowing caregivers to easily track data history and progression over time. Physicians can also set automatic alarms if a patient’s comfort drops below a certain range. The bracelet’s multi-user technology further allows for use on multiple patients, for example in hospital or clinic settings.

Mdoloris ANI Guardian bracelet image

The Mdoloris technology measures Heart Rate Variability, a phenomenon that controls the regulation of the cardiovascular system via the Autonomous Nervous System. It is based on obtaining a Parasympathetic tone index, scientifically evaluated on a numerical value between 0 and 100.

A high index reflects optimal comfort while a rather low index reveals discomfort and surgical stress that can be caused by the care performance, can lead to post-operative pain, inflammation response, and more.

This index is calculated from a proprietary ANI sensor provided to monitor pain in a comfort zone between 50 and 70. The ANI technology has been developed after more than 23 years of academic research conducted at Lille CHRU (one of France’s major hospitals and medical research facilities) and hundred publications, Mdoloris says.

Pending launch, the prototype is already in use in Lille and Strasbourg, where the Geprovas are using the assistive technology to monitor surgeons during training and/or a surgery.

ANI Guardian is expected to be available worldwide by June 2023, including in the UK.

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